Legal and regulatory issues

Competition

• EU - Microsoft, Time Warner Escape Scrutiny onContentGuard  +/-

  (The Deal) Microsoft and Time Warner have found a winning formula for getting the EU to drop its probe of a deal by bringing in a last-minute third partner, but competition experts warned the strategy may not always work. Microsoft and Time Warner brought in French consumer electronics vendor Thomson SA as a third partner in digital rights manager ContentGuard, givng each of the buyers a 33 percent voting stake. The European Commission said it has dropped the probe because the case was outside its regulator's jurisdiction. In a statement, the Commission said that under the revised deal, Microsoft will no longer have the ability to impose a licensing policy on ContentGuard that would put its rivals in the fledgling digital rights management market at a competitive disadvantage.

• EU doubts efforts by Microsoft to comply  +/-

  (International Herald Tribune) A year after the European Commission issued its landmark antitrust ruling against Microsoft, the commission said that it had 'strong doubts' that Microsoft was obeying its order. In a statement, the commission said that its investigation of the market showed that the company had not implemented solutions the European body mandated last March as punishment for Microsoft's abuse of a dominant position in the market for system software for servers, or high-end business computers.

Computer crime

• ES - Police smash child porn ring with raids across 12 countries  +/-

  (Independent) Hundreds of people across two continents have been arrested in a Spanish-led operation to break a child pornography ring operating via the internet. Police mounted raids in France, Italy, Sweden and the Netherlands, as well as in seven Latin American countries, taking a total of 500 people into custody. In Spain, 19 people were arrested, accused of exchanging pornographic material. The Guardia Civil, in co-operation with Spain's state prosecution service, enlisted the help of their European and Latin American judicial co-operation organisations, Eurojust and IberRed.

Copyright, trademarks and patents

• AU - BitTorrent hubs close after ISP raid  +/-

  (CNET News.com) The Australian music industry's antipiracy unit said that 50 file-sharing hubs were closed down following a raid on Internet service provider Swiftel Communications. Swiftel - which allegedly owns and operates computer infrastructure that hosts Web pages using BitTorrent file-sharing software - was ordered by the Federal Magistrates' Court to take down any sites containing copyright material. A survey carried out by the group's computer forensic experts revealed a dramatic reduction in the number of active file-sharing hubs.

• Creative Commons Is Rewriting Rules of Copyright  +/-

  (Washington Post) More than 10 million creations have been distributed using an innovative new licensing scheme called Creative Commons that some say may be better suited to the electronic age than the hands-off mind-set that has made copyright such a bad word among the digerati.

• FR - La reproduction sur CD ROM, pour un usage personnel, relève de la copie privée  +/- Translate

  (FDI) Cour d'appel de Montpellier, 3ème chambre correctionnelle, 10 mars 2005. Ministère Public, Fédération nationale des distributeurs de films, Syndicat de l'édition vidéo, Warner Bros Inc. et a. c/ Aurélien D. Résumé : La reproduction sur CD ROM, pour un usage personnel, d'oeuvres protégées, téléchargées sur l'internet ou copiées, relève de la copie privée, sauf à ce qu'il en soit démontré une utilisation collective.

• SE - In Sweden, a major blow to film piracy  +/-

  (Reuters) The U.S. film industry hailed a raid by Swedish police against an Internet service provider as a major blow to European piracy of movies and music on the Web. The raid was carried out by at the Stockholm offices of Bahnhof, Sweden's oldest and largest ISP, which U.S. copyright protection experts have considered a haven for high-level Internet piracy for years. Bahnhof, the first major ISP raided by the Swedes without advance notice, was home to some of the biggest and fastest servers in Europe. Authorities seized four computer servers containing a total of 1,800 digital movie files, 5,000 software application files and 450,000 digital audio files, amounting to 23 terabytes of data. Authorities in Scandinavian countries had been reluctant to take such action in the past but are recently cracking down on piracy.

• SE - Sweden to introduce tougher download laws  +/-

  (The Local) The Swedish government has proposed changes to the country's copyright law which would make it illegal to download, as well as distribute, music and films on the internet without the copyright owner's permission.But justice minister Thomas Bodström said that the tightened law was not intended to be used against individuals downloading material for their own private use.

• US - Agence France Presse sues Google over news site  +/-

  (Reuters) Agence France Presse has sued Google, alleging the Web search leader includes AFP's photos, news headlines and stories on its news site without permission. The French news service is seeking damages of at least $17.5 million and an order barring Google News from displaying AFP photographs, news headlines or story leads, according to the suit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Data Protection (privacy)

• US - FTC action over customer data sharing  +/-

  (out-law.com) The US Federal Trade Commission has settled a dispute with a shopping cart software company that had been charged with renting customer shopping data to marketers, in breach of the privacy policies of the merchants who were using the software.

Liability, jurisdiction and applicable law

• NL - Dutch ISPs agree to file-sharing crackdown  +/-

  (Associated Press) Five major Dutch Internet providers agreed to cooperate in a crackdown on illegal file sharing, saying they will send warnings to clients suspected of swapping copyrighted music, film and software files. The providers said they will forward letters from the Brain Institute, which represents the entertainment industry in the Netherlands, warning clients that sharing copyrighted material is against the law. The decision was a compromise, because the providers refused to reveal customers' names or addresses directly to the Brain Institute.

Racism and xenophobia

• EU - Broadcasting Regulators combat hate broadcasts  +/-

  (RAPID) A pan-European drive to combat incitement to hatred in broadcasts was agreed by national broadcasting regulators meeting in Brussels on the initiative of EU Information Society and Media Commissioner Viviane Reding. Measures agreed by the broadcasting regulators include stepping up information exchange and cooperation to ensure that EU rules which guarantee freedom of the media on the one hand and prohibit broadcasts which contain an incitement to hatred on the other hand, are enforced swiftly, effectively and consistently. see also EU Rules and Principles on Hate Broadcasts: Frequently Asked Questions.

Safer Internet awareness

• DE - CeBIT: Initiative "Deutschland sicher im Netz" konkretisiert  +/- Translate

  (ZDNet.de) Auf der CeBIT wurde die Initiative "Deutschland sicher im Netz" konkretisiert. Durch verschiedene Maßnahmen sollen Anwender über die sichere Nutzung des Internet informiert werden. Vertreter der beteiligten Unternehmen Microsoft, T-Online und CA legten eine Roadmap vor, auf der die für dieses Jahr geplanten Schritte aufgeführt sind. Für Mai 2006 wurde bereits ein Gipfel angekündigt, in dessen Rahmen die Fortschritte dieses Engagements dokumentiert werden sollen. Basis für den Vergleich sind aktuelle Zahlen einer Studie von AOL und NCSA, wonach 20 Prozent der Rechner mit Viren und 80 Prozent mit Spyware beziehungsweise Adware verseucht sind. Im Mai 2005 soll die "Aktion Kinderschutz und Medienkompetenz" eingeleitet werden, in deren Rahmen Kunder, Jugendliche, Erziehungsberechtigte und Pädagogen über den sicheren Umgang mit dem Netz informiert werden sollen. Die Basis soll das Portal www.infernauten.de bilden. Im Juni steht dann der "Sicherheitscheck" auf dem Programm, in dessen Rahmen zehn Millionen Internet-Nutzer direkt erreicht werden sollen.

Telecommunications

• FR - Tele2 accentue sa pression sur Orange en saisissant l'ART  +/- Translate

  (ZDNet France) La filiale hexagonale de l'opérateur suédois saisit une seconde fois l'ART. Elle souhaite qu'Orange lui permette de devenir opérateur mobile virtuel. Tele2 poursuit parallèlement des négociations avec SFR.

Terrorism

• EU - Web to have 'terror watch' team  +/-

  (BBC) Five European governments are setting up a hi-tech team to monitor how terrorists and criminals use the net. The group will make recommendations on shutting down websites that break terrorism laws. The plans for the initiative came out of a meeting of the G5 interior ministers in Spain that discussed ways to tackle these threats. The five countries also agreed to make it easier to swap data about terror suspects and thefts of explosives. The interior ministers of Spain, Britain, France, Germany and Italy - the G5 - met in Granada this week for an anti-terrorism summit.

Market & Technology

Market

• UK games industry 'needs support'  +/-

  (BBC) The video games industry in the UK is looking healthy but could do with more government support, according to a report by analysts Screen Digest.More software and games are being sold overseas than are imported, a good sign for the economy, said the report. It shows the interactive entertainment industry is doing financially better than film and television industries. The rising cost of making games has meant many studios have closed however, sending talent overseas. see also Interview with ELSPA's Roger Bennett (OfcomWatch).

Multilingual content and software

• FR - France to develop Google 'rival'  +/-

  (BBC) France is spearheading a project to make European literary works available online in an effort to counter growing US cultural dominance worldwide. The virtual library initiative follows a similar move by US firm Google to make 15m works available on its site. The head of the French national library, Jean-Noel Jeanneney, recently called for a European 'counter-attack' against the Google project.

• FR - Les grandes bibliothèques se préparent à la guerre numérique  +/- Translate

  (01net) Selon le président de la République, Jacques Chirac, la numérisation des grandes bibliothèques d'Europe est un « enjeu fondamental » pour la diversité culturelle. Il a d'ailleurs reçu, mercredi 16 mars, Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, ministre de la Culture, et Jean-Noël Jeanneney, président de la Bibliothèque nationale de France (BNF). Leur mission sera « d'analyser les conditions dans lesquelles les fonds des grandes bibliothèques en France et en Europe pourraient être rendus plus largement et plus rapidement accessibles sur Internet ». Afin que le président puisse, dans les semaines qui viennent, faire des propositions à ses homologues de l'Union européenne pour coordonner leurs efforts de numérisation. Un effort qui demandera une vraie mobilisation.

Statistics

• FR - L'insatisfaction des clients de FAI atteint des sommets  +/- Translate

  (ZDNet France) Selon le rapport annuel de l'Afutt, les plaintes de clients contre leurs fournisseurs d'accès à internet ont explosé en 2004. L'association dénonce particulièrement «l'indigence» des services clients, incapables de résoudre les problèmes exposés. Les fournisseurs d'accès à internet savent s'y prendre pour rendre leurs clients insatisfaits. C'est ce que révèle l'Observatoire 2004 «des plaintes et insatisfactions dans le domaine des communications électroniques». Il s'agit du bilan annuel rédigé par l'Association française des utilisateurs des télécommunications (Afutt), vers qui les particuliers peuvent se tourner pour toute plainte concernant un opérateur de téléphonie fixe, mobile ou d'un FAI. voir aussi Services internet: face-à-face entre FAI et association de consommateurs

• UK - Broadband soars  +/-

  (UK Broadband Usergroup) The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has released its latest statistics of internet usage in the UK. Broadband connections (both xDSL and cable) increased by a massive 86.2% for the year ending January 2005. Dialup connections plummeted by 22.4% as users took advantage of the ever falling cost of broadband, and the increased availability of broadband-enabled exchanges. The government?s official statistics agency said figures, based on returns from ISPs, showed broadband now accounted for 41% of all internet connections, up from 22.5% a year ago. Overall, there was a 2% annual increase in the number of active subscriptions to the internet.

• UK - Child porn site blocks supported  +/-

  (BBC) UK net users would strongly back service providers if they tracked visitors to child porn websites, according to a Mori survey commissioned by net security firm StreamShield. Eighty-nine percent in the survey of 1,000 said they would support the move. 90% said they would welcome service providers voluntarily blocking access to child abuse websites.

• US - Big jump in use of Internet filters  +/-

  (Pew Internet & American Life Project) More than half of American families with teenagers use filters to limit access to potentially harmful online content - a 65% increase from the number of those who used filters in 2000. But big majorities of both teens and parents believe that teens do things on the internet that their parents would not approve of. See Protecting Teens Online

Technology

• Cleaning spam from swapping networks  +/-

  (CNET News.com) Cornell University researchers are trying to clear file-swapping networks with a new program aimed at filtering spam out of the peer-to-peer pool. But the tool could also ratchet up the antipiracy arms race, by filtering out the numerous 'decoy' files used by Hollywood and record label allies to discourage illegal downloaders.

Forthcoming events

• 2005-11-25 UK, Manchester - Ministerial Conference on eGovernment  +/-

  (Europa) The UK Government and the European Commission will jointly organise a Ministerial eGovernment Conference. The conference will be held in the Manchester Convention Centre, on the 24th and 25th of November 2005. It builds on the 2003 eGovernment Ministerial Conference, the Ministerial Declaration which was adopted, the eGovernment Communication and Council conclusions following it and the progress made by the eGovernment sub-group of eEurope. This conference will be one of the main events during the UK Presidency.

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